You might expect that Stanley Cottrill would receive a lot of attention when he recently gave gifts totaling $2.3 million to nine charities, but he wouldn’t.

He is the classic quiet giver that we see in the greater Fox Valley.
Stan has made many large gifts through the years, but frequently swore the beneficiaries to secrecy. He just saw it as doing right by his community.

This philosophy was so much a part of his life that he named his New London contracting business Du-Rite Plumbing and Heating. In retirement, he traveled the world helping to build homes and churches. He has helped out churches of various denominations in his home town, too.

That history of giving and grants he has made through his two charitable endowment funds at the Community Foundation helped earn him the Wisconsin Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Outstanding Lifetime Philanthropy Award in 2009. New London celebrated the 90-year-old’s latest gifts by declaring Stan Cottrill Day. The recipients include his church, public broadcasting, Scouting, CAP Services and $500,000 for youth sports in New London, which will be memorialized by the baseball diamond at Hatten Park being renamed Cottrill Field.

Another important piece of the legacy of Stan’s giving spirit will be his funds within the Foundation. He also is a member of our Himebaugh Legacy Circle, indicating to us that he has arranged a legacy gift to his funds here. The funds will continue on, helping the causes he cares about, under the watchful eyes of community volunteers serving on our Board of Directors. We’re here to assure charitable wishes live on.

Stan has given something to us all. It is the knowledge that very generous and caring people live among us, quietly giving, but speaking volumes with their actions.

Curt Detjen is President and CEO of the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. Email him at [email protected].